Postgraduate medical students sitting idle a “national waste”: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court recently directed the State government to decide on the proposal to create supernumerary posts for 23 medical postgraduates to serve their bonded one-year Medical Education Service as Senior Residents.

Justice Viju Abraham was considering two writ petitions filed by the postgraduates seeking declarations that compulsory service bonds imposed as a condition for admission to Post Graduate Medical Courses from Government Medical Colleges in Keralam were unreasonable and that the bond period started from the publication of results, not the date of joining service. They also sought declarations that the State’s inaction in appointing and posting the petitioners was illegal; and that the one-year waiting period, stipulated to accommodate delays in appointment, was unreasonable.

Additionally, the petitioners sought directions for the release of their original certificates, for the State to publish and maintain a transparent vacancy matrix of available posts in various Government medical colleges and to implement a time-bound, transparent mechanism to allot postings.

The court found that the petitioners had not been posted for almost eight months after the publication of results, denying them their stipend and depriving them of the opportunity to work in any other hospitals since their certificates, held by the Directorate of Medical Education, would only be released after the bond period. The court stated that the postgraduate students sitting idle without discharging any function was a “national waste”.

The court upheld the condition that the postgraduate students should execute a bond to serve in Government Medical Colleges. However, it directed that the period of Senior Residency as a bonded obligation should start from the date of publication of the result irrespective of whether a posting could be granted soon after the publication of the result.

The State had contended that COVID-19 resulted in an unprecedented overlap of two batches eligible for compulsory government service. Nearly 1,000 postgraduate students had completed the course, yet only 600 senior residency vacancies were available. The State apprised the court that if it were unable to provide the appointment within a year, the postgraduates would be released from the bond, and informed the court that the Directorate had proposed the creation of supernumerary posts for the petitioners.